First Landing State Park

After leaving the Outer Banks we continued north into Virginia. Another state checked off the Airstream travel list. Like most of the states in the east, Virginia is not completely new to us, but neither of us have spent much time here and are looking forward to the next few weeks. First up – a stay at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach.

Camping in the dunes

A few days before our arrival I started to have second thoughts about this stop. When I originally planned our route up the east coast I was trying to fit in as many coastal visits as possible, and when I came across this state park with excellent online reviews, I figured why not. But as much as we love the ocean, we’ve been craving some time in the mountains lately. I was also afraid that we would be annoyed by the traffic and crowds in a such a busy, touristy area. Turns out I didn’t need to worry at all. We loved the park, and while the area is busy, the truth is that once again, we barely left the campground all week, so it wasn’t an issue.

I spy…

The park is located alongside the Chesapeake Bay. The large expanse of dunes means that none of the sites have a view of the water, but it’s only a few minutes walk down to the beach.

Aside from the beach, the park also has a huge network of wooded trails. When we arrived around noon on Sunday we wasted no time getting out and exploring them. We took the Cape Henry bike trail all the way through the park to where it ends in a residential neighborhood. We then rode a few miles on a side street before coming to the Virginia Beach Boardwalk.

So much green

The boardwalk runs alongside the ocean between a wide swath of sandy beach and a row of towering hotels. Next to the main boardwalk is a path for bikes only. Well…bikes and a large amount of family size pedal carts that eager tourists rent out in droves. We had fun dodging these slow moving, often weaving, and sometimes out of control, contraptions. The beach and boardwalk were bursting with people all trying to make the most of the glorious weather on this warm, sunny spring day. Despite the crowds, we managed to ride all the way down to the end of the boardwalk and back. I wish I had taken more photos, because let me tell you, there was some excellent people watching opportunities :)

On the boardwalk

Back in the park we enjoyed more of the trails throughout the week, including the Bald Cypress trail that circles around an impressive cypress swamp.

Bald cypress trail

On our last full day in the area we decided to hit up a museum. There are quite a few spread around Virginia Beach and Norfolk, including a couple that showcase the naval history of the area. We decided to skip the military history this time around in favor of the Chrysler Museum of Art. We went in not knowing anything about this museum, and wandered out hours later amazed by all we had just seen. This massive, recently renovated, museum houses an impressive collection of art and artifacts from around the world. A large portion of the first floor is occupied by the glass art collection. This was probably our favorite section. From fancy Tiffany lamps, a small outdoor exhibit of Chihuly glass, ancient glass bottles, and stunning modern glass works of art, we were kind of blown away by it all.

Glass Collection

Up on the second floor we strolled through the modern art section – always fun for a little good natured mocking. You can count us in as some of the people who just “don’t get it” when it comes to large canvases covered with random paint smears.

Meaningful…or meaningless

Our very favorite mocking material was this one that supposedly depicts the journey of Jason and the Argonauts. What, you mean you don’t see it? Maybe this direct quote from the plaque will help: “Moving your eyes from the ochre field to the surge of pink and blue provides a sense of crossing a vast expanse of earth, sea, and sky. The golden burst at the center, created by splashing paint on the canvas, reminds us that every journey – artistic and heroic alike – is subject to chance.” Ha! Looks to me like the artist accidentally dropped some yellow paint and then tried to salvage the mistake.

Modern art at its finest

Onto the Lincoln exhibit where we delighted in this photo of Lincoln taking part is his little known favorite past time.

Did you know Lincoln was an RVer?

Back downstairs we finished up our tour with the History of Videos Games exhibit. While I wouldn’t classify either of us as video game enthusiasts, we both have some video game memories from our youth. Tim probably more so than me. Unlike many teenage boys who spent hours with glazed over eyes killing zombies and racing cars, his video game experience mostly centers around the time before high school when his family had the very cutting edge technology of the time – the Commodore 64. I think he was delighted to see it in person once again, although he did remark somewhat bitterly, “sure makes you feel old when you childhood is in a museum.”

Video game history

I am, of course, leaving out entire sections of the museum. Including the Japanese woodblock exhibit, the rooms full of pre-Columbian and Egyptian statues, the hall of porcelain, the fine art section with paintings by famous artists such as Monet, Degas, and Matisse, and so much more. For a museum that we had never heard of before, not to mention one where the entrance fee is only a suggested donation, the Chrysler Museum far exceed our exceptions. If we lived in the area I could imagine visiting here over and over again and never failing to discover something new.

A most impressive museum

After all that culture we were in desperate need of some refreshment, so we headed down the street to one of the local breweries. The intention was to taste a few beers and maybe take one of their free Saturday tours. Imagine our surprise when we came upon a huge crowd of people milling around in front of the brewery. Turns out we had stumbled on the annual spring street party at Smartmouth Brewery.

Smartmouth street party

We jumped into the action and quickly filled our commemorative cups with some tasty brew before joining one of brew room tours. Business at this relatively new craft brewery is booming, and we learned all about the the giant steel contraptions where the beer ages, their newly acquired canning line, and plans for future expansion which will most likely involve a larger facility.

Brewery tour

The surprise street party, much like the rest of our stay in the area, confirmed without a doubt that we absolutely made the right decision in choosing to come here. It ended up being a delightful week in a very nice campground with some fun extra curricular activities thrown in. This will be our last coastal stop for a few weeks while we pause our tour up the east coast to head inland for some time in the mountains.

Up next…we surround ourselves with shiny aluminum at an Airstream only campground with views of the famed Appalachian Mountains.

17 comments

Looks like a really fabulous week. I love it when an art gallery turns out to be a fascinating stop!

I like that Smartmouth is canning…we’ve been trying to purchase more cans since we’ve had so many stops in states that don’t seem to recycle (and aluminum is generally the only thing recycled), but it seems very few craft brewers are on the can bandwagon. Hopefully this is changing.

We are huge fans of craft beer in cans. As you said, they are much easier to recycle, and we can fit a lot more in our tiny fridge! Maybe it’s an east coast thing, but we’ve been finding a lot more local beer in cans lately.

OMG I loved your museum tour — that photo of Tim standing in front of the abstract canvas is priceless. I must admit I enjoy some abstract art — but I agree that some of it just looks like a big mess that someone is trying to pass off as art. Looks like you found another great place to stay — beautiful campground, beach, and trails. How far in advance did you make your reservations for your trip up the east coast?

I also enjoy some of the more abstract art pieces, but usually for me it’s more about the colors and textures, and the supposed “meaning” on those little cards just makes me laugh. I made a bunch of reservations back in February, but it turns out that we really didn’t need them for the places we’ve been in the last few weeks. First Landing completely filled up on the weekend, but was nearly empty during the week. They have a huge number of first come, first serve sites, and we could have easily found a site when we arrived on Sunday afternoon. That would have also saved us some money since the reservation sites cost more per night.

GREAT POST on First Landing or for those of us native to that very area – Seashore state park. The street you came out on at the end of the Cape Henry bike trail is about 7 blocks from where I lived. I ran up the trail and back every other day. I love the park since you really do not have to have a car to enjoy it all. Looking forward to taking Winnona there although they sure have jacked up their prices. Now what was the number of that sweet campsite you had? :-) Really great pictures. You definitely picked the right museum too. You must have a 6th sense.

How cool that you lived so close to the park. We noticed a lot of people running on the trails and I was thinking this must be a great park for the locals to enjoy. You’re right the nightly fees are really high, but we’ve come to expect that from the state parks on the east coast. We had site D11 which was a very lovely, private spot. It is one of the reservable spots, which makes the per night fee higher. Had I known how many non-reservable sites would be available when we arrived I would have probably gone that route.

My parents lived in Virginia Beach for 9 years…yep that boardwalk is some really good people watching! Looks like a fun week – love that museum. And cracking up at Tim’s comment about his childhood being in a museum…too funny!

I never considered myself a huge fan of art (I think that art history class in college scarred me for life), but have discovered that I really enjoy art museums :)

We’ve been seeing more and more craft beer in cans. Our tour guide explained that not only is is more environmentally friendly, but it’s also become popular with the younger crowd who like to bring beer to places such as the beach where glass bottles are often not allowed. We like it because we can fit almost twice as many in our tiny RV fridge!

About The Watsons

This is the story of Tim & Amanda. Since 2012, we have traveled the U.S. while living and working from our renovated 25-foot Airstream. Follow us on our crazy journey in search of beautiful scenery, fun adventures, interesting people, tasty foods, and more…